Twenty-twenty | Emmanuel Inya Otu-Nwachi

Like every other
It started with fanfare
With lots of prospects
The prophets prophesied
Goodness
Increase
Hope
Transformation
Year this, Year that!

Sooner than later
Before the celebrations ended
Before the cries of excitement faded
Covid-19 came uninvited
Rubbished the predictions of the prophets
Bringing pain, suffering and death in its heels
Soldiers killed some
Police killed some
Those who escaped
Were killed by diseases
Those who escaped diseases
Were killed by hunger

As what was given
To sustain life were hoarded
Or sold by greedy politicians
Whose constituencies are their pockets
Soon this sparked off discontentment,
As we were getting over
The shock of it all the protests began
Followed by the vandalization
Sponsored by power brokers
Just to hang the dog
By giving it a bad name;

Twenty-Twenty
Is the year
We can't forget
In a hurry
For in it we saw hardship personified.

Poet's note: The year, 2020 is a year that brought a lot pains and death. In Nigeria, apart apart from the Corona virus pandemic, suffered other ills including police brutality, hunger, herdsmen killings etc. The poem presents the year in the light of the various calamities Nigerians suffered.